21 How NOT to Enjoy a Festival

It was night, everyone aside from me asleep, and once more, I'm wide awake. We were in the middle of traveling to Gaoling, stopping to rest. As I lied listlessly on the ground, staring up at the stars, intrusive thoughts couldn't help but appear in my mind.

I wanted to go to the Swamp. It wasn't because of anything other than selfish reasons.

Why? Because I remembered what Huu had said very vividly. That the Swamp's visions often appeared in the form of deceased loved ones, to let someone know that they are still present spiritually. So, that begged the question...

What would it show me? My family wasn't dead. So, should I take it as good sign if I don't see them, or an even more depressing one?

But I wasn't going to go there. No point to it. I'd rather not know than be distracted with what I might or might not see. Maybe one day, when I felt ready or something like that.

As I was in the middle of trying to go to sleep but failing due to not being tired and my unstoppable thoughts, a notification from the system popped up.

[You have obtained the Flaw, {Insomniac}!]

[You have obtained the Perk, {Night Owl}!]

I blinked. "I'm only getting these now...?" I murmured to myself.

'May as well see what they do,' I thought.

{Insomnia}

You cannot sleep easily.

It is 50% more difficult for you to go to sleep, and stay asleep.

The mental fatigue and cognitive decline of not sleeping will affect you 25% less.

"Not terrible for a flaw," I supposed it could be worse.

{Night Owl}

You are a being of the night. Gives you the passive skill, {Owl Eyes}.

The mental fatigue and cognitive decline of not sleeping will affect you 50% less.

"That's really good." I was surprised. This would be very useful.

...

"You know I'll still be able to hear you, Hustler?" Toph asked me with a raised eyebrow.

"I get that, but it isn't for you. All I need you to do, is to tell me which steps make the least amout of vibrations," I explained to her.

"Okay, but why are you even doing this?"

"So I can be stealthy."

"Right..." Toph replied blandly.

...

{Stealth} (Passive/Active)

LV 59 (-59% EXP Gained)

EXP: 2,797/5,900

Passively decreases the amount of noise you make by 59% while walking.

Actively decreases the amount of noise you make while sneaking by 118%.

Actively decreases the chance you'll be spotted while sneaking by 59%. (As long as you're not standing out in the open, it'll decrease the chance to be caught. This is not the end all be all either, you do not have a 41% chance to be caught, it just decreases the chance including whatever you're doing to hide yourself.)

I stared at the skill, wide eyed. 'Holy shit,' I think to myself, shocked. I power-leveled the skill to level fifty-nine in three days. It didn't take a lot of intelligence for me to figure out why.

'Toph. Could it be if I do things efficiently, or even understand what the hell I'm doing, it speeds up the process of leveling skills?' I wondered.

If that WAS the case then... I've been doing shit the hard way. Just. Pure. Unadulterated. Repetition.

Do I know how to swing a sword? Yes. Thanks to leveling Sword Mastery and Extinguishing Sword, I've been fed information on how to do it by the system. But that just wasn't as good as learning from someone or understanding, I guess.

'I truly picked the worst fucking Bending Style. There's literally no one to teach me!' I covered my face with my hands, feeling like strangling my past self.

"Uh... having some sort of crisis there, Hustler?" Toph inquired.

"You could say that," I said vaguely. She shrugged. After speaking a bit to her, she left. Which made me then proceed to press my head into a tree as I struggled to not scream.

It took a little while, but I managed to calm myself down. Settling down into a cross-legged position, I tried to complete Soundbending.

TIIII

The loud, discordant tones the vibrating air formed made birds in the surrounding area fly from the trees. As I continued to make ear bleeding sounds, I ruminate about my purpose of getting Stealth.

I was strong. Very strong, I knew that.

How strong? Well, I couldn't break through metal with a punch, yet. But I could dent a metal plate with minor bruises on the hand which hit it.

So, yeah. My physique exceeded a lot of others, but... I also realized how little that mattered. With Water, Fire, and Earth, Bending was the real thing that mattered in this world's combat.

It didn't matter how fast or tough I was. If I got hit with lightning, I'd probably die, not that I wanted to test it.

Lava? Blue fire? Third degree burns at the least.

Bloodbending? How the hell did you counter that without being a Bloodbender yourself, or, The Avatar State?

Vacuum? While Airbenders were practically extinct, if I was hit with that, I'd die too.

Every Bending Style had a Sub Style that was absolutely made to kill. Some, admittedly, more than others.

So while I was very confident in my combat abilities, I knew that the best bet I had to maximize them, was to kill my enemies before they even noticed. With my speed, that most likely wouldn't be a problem except for Psychic Benders. But I wanted to be sure, so I...

Decided to start working on some stealth skills. Hopefully, if I managed to get good enough at hiding myself, even if we failed the attack on Ozai or Aang didn't get Energybending, I would be able to kill him myself without him ever being the wiser. Wirh Airbending and hopefully Soundbending, the possibility that I might be able to nullify any sound I made was a very reasonable thing to assume. Now, while I didn't think about that when I first chose it, at least I realized it now.

Also, the quest, An Airbenders Duty, didn't end in the summer. It ended in fall of this year, which was when I got it. So I still had some time.

I know I was paranoid, but paranoia was better than being arrogant in my mind. Especially considering the fact that there are still insanely strong spirits out there.

So, yes, while I thought of nigh impossible scenarios, if they had even the slightest chance of coming to fruition, which I think they did, I didn't want to take any chances. So I tempered myself using these impossible scenarios and strong beings to not let it go to my head.

'Hopefully there's a skill to hide my chi,' I thought hopefully. Then I could truly become the stealthiest person around.

Though I didn't think any Firebenders could sense Chi, again, it wasn't improbable. I just didn't want to take that chance, especially since I've been enjoying my time here, well, some of it, and I imagined dying hurt. A lot more than getting cut at least.

...

"Don't resist, you're completely surrounded!" I woke up to a loud shout. My eyes unwittingly snapped open.

Ever since I got the Insomniac flaw, I was a lighter sleeper than ever. The slightest movement of wind could wake me up. So when I finally managed to sleep, I hoped for just a little bit, that I would get some good rest.

It's safe to say I was pissed when these bastards showed up, and interrupted my sleep by spewing some bullshit. With a wave of my hand, a ring of air sent three of them flying off their mounts. They slammed into the forests trees.

In a flash, it ended. Toph, Aang, Katara, and Sokka all contributing to their asskicking. I wanted to stay a little longer and beat them more, but the rest decided it might be a good time to leave.

So I kept my opinion to myself.

'At least I know it's nearly time for Avatar Day.' Upon that realization, my heart sunk.

...

I separated from the group, walking through Chin village in a daze. My feet seemingly walked on their own, as my brain struggled to comprehend the reality.

Somehow, or maybe purposely, I ended up at where the statues are. I stood before Avatar Kyoshi's paper effigy. I recalled that one lackadaisical guy who told me about Avatar Day.

"Status," I muttered, not caring if anyone heard me. My voice sounded weaker than I wanted it to.

Name: Elliot (Kai)

Level: 87 Next Level: 1,260/8,700

Class: Airbender (+100% Experience towards all Airbending Skills, 10% decrease in all Airbending Skill costs, +50 DEX)

Titles: Adept Airbender, Master Swordsman, Master Fighter, Slaughterer,

Age: 15

HP: 11,260/11,260 (48.79 Per Minute/2927.6 Per Hour)

CHI: 1,095/1,095 (20.81 Per Minute/1249.12 Per Hour)

STR: 110 (523, All buffs, 308 if only passives are activated.

STA: 121 (575, All buffs, 338 if only passives are activated.)

VIT: 40 (112, All buffs, 40 if only passives are activated.)

DEX: 128 (1479 All buffs, 875 if only passives are activated.)

WIS: 55

PER: 86

INT: 60

LUK: 66

Attribute Points: 435

Perks: {Sword Genius} {Bullet Time} {Limber} {Musculature Growth} {Stamina Demon} {Enduring} {Compact Musculature} {Night Owl}

Flaws: {Depersonalization} {Repressed Emotions} {Insomnia}

I stared at my age, as though wishing to ingrain the one and five by burning them into my brain.

A year. One year. Three hundred, sixty five days had passed since I first arrived in this world. And, in the end, for a year of living here...

I had nothing to show for it. I was no closer to finding out why I ended up here, or for a way back home.

This finally made me aware of the reality that, I would most likely never get back home. I'll probably never know why I arrived here, and that I'll never see my friends or family ever again.

I had known that was the case for a while, but I guess it had never sunken in until I saw evidence of that fact. My heart pounded painfully against my ribcage.

Tears began to well up in my eyes. I didn't even notice when the Kyoshi statue left, staring at the spot where it once was, captivated.

'I'm fucking pathetic,' I told myself. Crying always made me feel terrible. It made me embarrassed.

Why? Because when I cried, I CRIED. Sobbing, wheezing, snot, all of it. Neither did crying ever relieve me, it just made everything worse.

I would get stuck in my thoughts that would get progressively poorer. Until it just became one big mental circle jerk of a self-pity party. As if my sadness needed gratification.

'Like I can't be sad just because I'm sad. How idiotic. How vain. How pathetic, right?! Or that I can't be sad just because I'd never-'

I stopped my thoughts right there. It nearly happened once more. Thankfully, I noticed it before I went down that rabbit hole.

'I'm fine, I'm fine. Everything's going to be alright, Elliot,' I think to myself, but it felt more like pleading to myself to keep myself together.

'Let's just enjoy the festival, okay?' I suggested to myself. But, then, I felt someone walking up to me. Letting out a deep, shuddering breath, I rubbed my cheeks and eyes, ridding myself of my tears.

I turned my head and saw Toph, hands behind her head. If she noticed anything, she didn't mention it.

'Thank you,' I inwardly uttered to her. I didn't know if I could take it if she had said anything. Crying in front of my only friend... That would've just made me feel many times worse.

I couldn't explain why. But in my past life, I rarely ever cried in front of people. Not my friends, not even my family. It's become such an ardent thing, so close to my chest, not to cry in front of someone. And when I have in my past life, I felt... violated.

This wasn't okay, and I knew that. To fix this I would probaby need to cry, for people I trusted to see that, so that I knew it was safe to do so. At least, that's what my therapist explained to me. But I just couldn't bring myself to do that. It was hard.

I was never a shining beacon of mental health anyways.

"Wanna walk around the festival?" She asked me.

"Sure," I smiled hollowly.

Yes. If I just enjoyed the festival, I would forget about it eventually.